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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 6, 2017 20:36:55 GMT -5
Alright here we go. Now, let me start by saying this is my first time ever reading the Invaders, with the exception of issue #31 which I picked up a few years ago and kept because I liked the Franken-Nazi on the cover. I will get to that issue eventually…
I am aware of the golden age Cap but have honestly never read any of his adventures (ditto for Sub-Mariner or The Human Torch from that era). To my understanding, the Invaders stories were meant to fill in Cap's time during WW2 with even more adventures alongside the Human Torch, Toro, Bucky and Namor. So let us begin with where the series began which was Giant-Size Invaders #1!
The Cover Robbins and Romita get credit here and I like it. You know it is gonna be full of some war-time mixed with superhero fun!
The Story
The story is done by Thomas, with Robbins art. I like the artwork overall. It is nothing amazing, but it does the jobs and works well enough for the story. The story is also interesting enough. Cap and Bucky start off by foiling some Nazis who are trying to blow up a ship yard. Then, the FBI shows up claiming they were following Cap and Bucky because a Mr. Anderson needs to speak with Cap. This sparks a flashback as Cap recalls taking his super serum from a Dr. Erskine. During the flashback, we see a Nazi who shoots Dr. Erskine. Cap jumps up pummel the assassin but alas, the Super Soldier formula is not lost as Dr. Erskine was apparently the only one who had its knowledge and he never wrote it down.
Flash back to the present story. The FBI agents rush Bucky and Cap to the hospital where this Dr. Anderson is. He was also one who worked with the late Dr. Erskine on the Super Soldier formula. He is in the hospital bed and proceeds to tell Cap that he was kidnapped and taken to a facility in the US where the Nazis had a secret operation. They were doing some crazy experiments, one of which was trying to recreate the Super Solider formula. Well, they had a specimen, named Master Man, who was ready for this formula. The Nazis used a device to extract info from Anderson’s brain (because supposedly he subconsciously knew what the formula was through his conversations with Erskine even though he did not remember). The formula is a success but Master Man starts going mad and thrashing the place.
At this point, Torch and Toro show up. Turns out, they were secretly assigned to watch Anderson (some job they did…maybe they had taken a lunch break?). They try to stop Master Man but fail. Master Man escapes along with Colonel Krieghund, who was in charge of this secret Nazi operation. We return to the hospital at the end of this retelling and see Torch and Toro are also at the hospital. They chat with Cap and Bucky and Cap mentions the word “cruise” at which point Dr. Anderson jumps up and seems to realize what is up. He orders the FBI agents to take Cap and the gang to Chesapeake Bay at once.
Once there, we see a ship heading toward the port. A pointy-eared figure it at the helm. Suddenly, a submarine pops up with Krieghund and Master Man on it. Master Man leaps to the ship and the pointy-eared figure steps out and…oh my, it’s Namor! They battle and are eventually joined by Cap and the Torches. Master Man is defeated as his serum wears off and Cap and Bucky knock him out. Subby and the Torches defeat the sub and all is well. The story finishes with Winston Churchill telling the group to set aside their quarrels and join together to fight the Axis. The Invaders leap off into the sunset and a finale blurb asks “Who—or what—is Brain Drain?” This was reference briefly in the issue but never elaborated on.
Opinions
I liked it. Solid story, a good coming together of the 5 heroes. The story entertained me, and I feel that is what this type of series should aim for. If I was a buyer back in 1975, I would be intrigued to continue to see what kind of adventures this group goes on. The idea of more superhero stories tied to the war appeals to me as someone who likes history but also wants to see a hero vs. villain battle. Maybe for readers back then, it was something they were not big on but the series did last 41 issues, so there much have been some intrigue. Roy Thomas also has a one page blurb explaining how he loved the old Cap, Namor and Torch stuff but missed the idea of supervillains being present. Hence, he set out to combine the 3 (plus their sidekicks) in said title, a title that Stan Lee apparently dreamt up a years before that never got used until now.
Quote of the issue
“ Alas, for him, he leaves a trail that could be followed by an astigmatic boy scout” – referring to Master Man as he wandered through the city at the end in a rage as his serum wore off
Bonus As a bonus, the issue has a reprint of Namor's first ever appearance, which I am thankful for because that is an issue I will never own!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2017 20:59:03 GMT -5
Excellent, detailed review. I did read the Invaders back when it came out back in 1975. I was a fan of anything relating to the Golden Age back then. In fact I still love stories set in that era. Even though The Invaders were a retcon there was a precedent with the All Winners Squad. I enjoyed the series. I even liked Frank Robbins art. It "fit" the Golden Age style. I did not like his art on stories told in the present day. I still try any revival of the Invaders. Looking forward to the rest of these reviews.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2017 21:18:44 GMT -5
Man, I'll be reading this ... off for a great start!  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 6, 2017 21:18:47 GMT -5
It wasn't so much filling in the gaps as creating the comics Roy Thomas, and others, wanted to see, based on those Alex Schomburg covers, with Cap, namor and Torch. The were mostly on USA Comics, but they didn't team up inside. So, Thomas went one step further and gave us those team-ups.
Roy really filled these with bang up action, which made it a fun series. This is where I got to see Cap diving into hordes of Nazis and Namor ripping apart bombers and Torch melting fighters and bombers. Roy gave us a Nazi Justice League for the Invaders to fight, making for some fun.
Robbins was always great on the art. He knew the period and captured it well. It helped that his Johnny Hazard strip was one of the adventure classics of newspaper comics. Let him draw aircraft, battles, and the 1940s and he was great. I still think his modern setting stories were fine and he wrote some great Batman material. He handled creepy well, which fit in when they introduced Baron Blood, not to mention with Brain Drain and some others.
I loved the whole concept of the Invaders and the issues; but, it does take a little time to really gel. Once he gets to Union Jack and Baron Blood, it has all come together and it steams right along, right up to their battle in Berlin. That's where I thought it peaked and then Roy struggled with it over the next couple of years, with a nice blowout of a finale, at the end.
Can't wait for the unofficial crossover with the Freedom Fighters.
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 6, 2017 21:42:44 GMT -5
Thanks all! Issues 1 (and hopefully 2) will be up tomorrow!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2017 21:52:55 GMT -5
[/p] Bonus As a bonus, the issue has a reprint of Namor's first ever appearance, which I am thankful for because that is an issue I will never own!
[/quote] Well that's the first story from Sub-Mariner #1 published Spring of 1941, but not the first appearance. I'm not sure which technically appeared first, Marvel Comics #1 or Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly #1, but both were out in 1939 and there were several more Sub-Mariner stories in Marvel Comics before Sub-Mariner #1 appeared. The Subby story in Marvel Comics was 12 pages, the first 8 of which appeared in Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly. The Good News is that story is reprinted in Invaders #20, so you should have it there. -M |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 6, 2017 21:59:41 GMT -5
^Thanks for correcting me! I think I meant to say that it was Sub-Mariner issue 1 and not just his first appearance but alas, I forgot to proofread (this reviewing stuff has a learning curve). Also glad that I will have another classic golden age reprint in a later issue as well |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 6, 2017 22:01:26 GMT -5
[/p] Bonus As a bonus, the issue has a reprint of Namor's first ever appearance, which I am thankful for because that is an issue I will never own!
[/quote] Well that's the first story from Sub-Mariner #1 published Spring of 1941, but not the first appearance. I'm not sure which technically appeared first, Marvel Comics #1 or Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly #1, but both were out in 1939 and there were several more Sub-Mariner stories in Marvel Comics before Sub-Mariner #1 appeared. The Subby story in Marvel Comics was 12 pages, the first 8 of which appeared in Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly. The Good News is that story is reprinted in Invaders #20, so you should have it there. -M[/quote] Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 predated Marvel Comics #1. The giveaway comic which was never actually distributed, was put together by Lloyd Jaquet's Funnies Inc. The Marvel Comics #1 story had an additional four pages. I've always wondered why the Everett Estate never tried to recapture the copyright on Sub-Mariner as it very clearly was not work-for-hire for Timely. |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 7, 2017 9:10:43 GMT -5
Invaders #1 The CoverThe cover is action packed...a nice one by Romita! I also love a good airplane cover The StoryThe tale starts off with the team arriving in England. At the end of the Giant Size issue, Churchill apparently sent them across the pond to act as protectors while he worked things out to get America ready and more involved in the War. As the Inaders arrive in England, there is a battle with some Nazi planes....and a nice couple of pages of action. The team prevails and as Cap lands their ship (a futuristic plane that Namor and his people created), Bucky sees a strange blonde woman who seems lost in a trance. Cap has to leap to save her before some fiery wreckage from their battle falls on her. This snaps her out of her trance but she does not seem to know who she is or how she got there. During Cap's rescue, she drops a strange ring, which Cap pockets after the woman claims to not recognize it. The team is met by their English liason officer, who takes them all to their headquarters (the girl tags along also). He tells the group they have had no luck looking into the mysterious "Brain Drain" that was mentioned last issue. Once inside the headquarters, they are looking at maps and the girl recognizes a place that is behind enemy lines as being where she thinks she came from. So the team decides to head that way. Thanks to Namor's ship, they get into enemy territory unseen because of its supersonic speed. Once in the area that the girl pointed to on the map, we see a crater or volcano. At this point, a large axe comes flying up at their ship. It damages a wing, so the team leaps to safety. Once on ground, we see the ship land itself (Cap surmises that Namor must have known it had an auto-landing system but did not think it would work due to the damage, which is why they jumped out). The Torches and Namor fly off to find out where this axe came from and they meet three Gods: Froh (lightning God), Donar (thunder God) and Loga (fire God). OpinionsI like the start of the story the most. It is well scripted and the pacing feels good. There is some intrigue surrounding this woman and the ring she dropped. I am not a big fan right now of these three Gods though. They seem like rip-offs of existing characters like Thor...but then I read the last page which again has a note from Roy Thomas. Here, he explains that the issue was originally meant for Giant Size Invaders #2 but the company decided to make it its own series so that story appears split up between this issue and the next. Thomas then explains the origin of this story. The title of the comic is called The Ring of the Nebulas, which is a nod to a series of four operas by Richard Wagner, together called The Ring of the Nibelung. The English translations of the titles of the 4 operas translate to "The Rhinegold", "The Valkyre", "Siegfried" and "The Twilight of the Gods". The comic was broken up into three parts, with each part being named after the four operas (Part 1 in the comic was titled "From the Rhine...a Girl of Gold", Part 2 was "A Valkyrie Rising" and Part 3 was "Beyond The Siegfried Line"). The final splash with the three Gods is the final homage to the last of Wagner's 4 operas. The names of the Gods are also taken from the musical, although from my research it appears that Thomas gave them abilities that better suited a comic book. The final interesting bit is that this opera and music was supposedly one of Hitler's favourite and, at the time the comic was produced, the Metropolitan Opera was presenting the four operas for the first time in 30 years. I never would have imaged this level of thought in a comic from 1975. It almost adds a whole new level of appreciation for how they tried to take something historical and tie it into their story, and I like that. The fact that the Siegfried Line is also a true line of defense from WWII was also a very nice tie in. Quote of the BookI'll cram my fist down his pilot light!- Bucky arguing with Toro early on about whether they should change the name of the team. BonusBelow is a link I found about Teutonic (German) Mythology and Wagner's 4 opperas www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/Teutonic_Mythology/wstm1.html
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Post by Prince Hal on Sept 7, 2017 9:26:20 GMT -5
Great idea for a review thread, pinkfloydsound17 ! Just curious if you think that second cover is, like the first, Robbins pencils and Romita inks. The crowded, Schomburg-esque layout and the figuresm especially Cap's, seem more like Robbins than Romita. In any case, It always seemed to me that Marvel tried its best to "tame" Robbins' cover art on these issues and brought in Romita to bring it closer to the house style. Later on, Kirby and Kane did the lion's share of the monthly book's covers, IIRC. (Many of which were great.) BTW, was the first issue cover a nod to All-Winners #1, #4 or #6?    |
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Post by masterofquackfu on Sept 7, 2017 10:16:50 GMT -5
I bought a ton of Invaders in the mid-80's. I still like the book, but not as much as I did back then. I look back and I cringe at the writing of Roy Thomas. Absolutely abysmal and amateurish. Trite. Also, the work of Robbins and Springer, which I used to like, well, it kind of grinds me a little bit. I was never a fan of the gaunt and anorexic look of the characters. Don't get me wrong...I'll still read the Invaders, but the luster has worn off and the series did not age well in my opinion. I also wish they had focused on more on Italian and Japanese axis characters rather than pulling out the Nazis all the time. A little diversity would have been nice. I also feel that they jerked Union Jack around. He had potential and they never developed him properly. Oh, and the Crusaders were pretty bad.
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Post by brutalis on Sept 7, 2017 11:34:34 GMT -5
Glad to see Invaders finding the love and an appreciation for Frank Robbins stylistic art along with Roy Thomas educational/historical super hero action. Was it wordy and heavy handed at times? Yes but mark that down to being how comics were at the time. You either dug the artwork or were turned off at the time but myself I enjoyed the freshness and very stylized Robbins work and his aircraft were all superb in every way!
This was a pet project for Roy the Boy and you can tell he dug into all aspects of history and superheroes and comics of his own youth to create something uniquely different from every other comic on the rack. If my high school history teacher was able to see the historical value of it and use my Invaders comics within his class then you know Roy did his homework and making the series reflect WWII as accurately as he was allowed to.
Robbins art was quite different and highlights the war time aspect so much more than the standard heroic ideal. You say WWII and I will immediately see Robbins Invaders work in my minds eye. His Cap, Namor and Torch look like they just walked out from the war.
I missed out on those 1st few issues and didn't catch it until issue 6 and had to search the LCS in the 80's to complete my collection of those early issues. I am proud to have the complete collection and even went so far as to purchasing the Invaders Classic TPB's. This is a series which I don't read often but when I do I sit and pour through the entire run taking me back to high school days...
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Post by mikelmidnight on Sept 7, 2017 11:47:59 GMT -5
I loved this series at the time and think it holds up well. Although I think a few of Roy's retcons are regreattable, in general the writing is much stronger than on All-Star Squadron.
I was never a fan of Robbins' art (I detested that he came in the middle of Captain America's battle with the Serpent Squad in his own comic and basically trashed the series in my eyes), but he was PERFECT for The Invaders, giving it an energetic but slightly old-fashioned feel. In fact I would say the series took a creative downturn after he left.
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 7, 2017 12:24:38 GMT -5
Great idea for a review thread, pinkfloydsound17 ! Just curious if you think that second cover is, like the first, Robbins pencils and Romita inks. The crowded, Schomburg-esque layout and the figuresm especially Cap's, seem more like Robbins than Romita. In any case, It always seemed to me that Marvel tried its best to "tame" Robbins' cover art on these issues and brought in Romita to bring it closer to the house style. Later on, Kirby and Kane did the lion's share of the monthly book's covers, IIRC. (Many of which were great.) BTW, was the first issue cover a nod to All-Winners #1, #4 or #6? Personally, I think the characters are definitely Romita. The faces kind of give it away for me. As for the layout and the background, you bring up a good point. I cannot find any mention of Robbins playing a role but again, you never know. Also, I think visually, the Giant Size Invaders looks most like All-Winners #4...but all of them are similar! Thanks for adding those! |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 7, 2017 12:34:54 GMT -5
Also if anyone has an Invaders Annual #1 they want to trade, sell or part with, it is all I am missing from the series. Message me |
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